Safety shower stall door lock



A. MARCHAND SAFETY SHOWER STALL DOOR LOCK March 24, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 6, 1951 March 24, 1953 A. MARCHAND 2,632,537

SAFETY SHOWER STALL DOOR LOCK Filed Nov. 6, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 III:

III/Illlllll IN V EN TOR.

M W BY Fr JE.

March 24, 1953 A. MARCHAND SAFETY SHOWER STALL DOOR LOCK Filed Nov. 6 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

Patented Mar. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES TENT. OFFICE 1 Claim. (Cl. 189-46) This invention relates to safety door locks used to lock shower-stalls.

Shower-stall doors are commonly made of glass and because of the slippery nature of shower stall floors due to water and soap they are inherently dangerous should a batherslip in said showerstall.

Moreover, most shower stalls are held closed by a simple friction clasp and should one fall against such a door it would immediately open causing the bather to fall into the bathroom.

It is an object of this invention to provide a shower-stall door that would immediately lock should a bather fall against such a door.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a shower-stall door which will look upon application of little pressure as uponbeing gripped by a bather.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a corrosion-proof shower-stall having a glass front panel, and a rear metal panel facing the interior of the shower stall.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a towel rack attached to said metal door panel. An understanding of these and other objects will become clear upon reading the following description accompanied by a drawing of an embodiment of the invention and in which Fig. l is a perspective view of the shower-stall door showing the door as seen from inside the shower-stall,

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the showerstall door and adjacent door jamb showing the locking mechanism,

Fig. 3 is a front elevation showing details of catch mechanism in outline when in open position,

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of a hinge and its adjacent cloor jamb taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 5 is a cross-section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3 and is broken away in part to show the operating mechanism in the rest or unlocked posi tion,

Fig. 6 is the same view as that of Fig. 5 but showing the operating mechanism in locked position,

Fig. '2 is the same view as that of Fig. 3 but showing the operating mechanism in locked position and I Fig. 8 is the same view as that of Fig. 7 except that the emergency latch has been raised to the open position.

Referring to the drawing a shower stall door generally indicated by the numeral II] (Fig. 1) and having a glass panel II a metal panel 12 on catch 32.

the enclosure side of the shower, and an insulating material l3, for example, glass wool (Fig. 5) is provided with a safety door grip bar I4 pivotally hinged to brackets I5 and I6 rigidly mounted on moulding ll of the door I0. y

The interior metal panel I2 may be provided with a splash-proof towel rack it which is easily mounted as by spot welding to said metal panel at a convenient location such as below the grip bar it. Such a metal towel'rack cannot be fixed to a glass shower-stall door but is easily fixed to the shatter-proof door It) of this invention.

The towel rack l8 has corrosion-proof metal casing is and a hinged top 20 also made from corrosion-proof metal, such as stainless steel. The hinged top 28 is provided with over-hanging flaps 2| and 22 to prevent shower water from entering the interior of the towel rack, and also with a. towel bar 23. The metal casing I9 may be open at the bottom.

The shower-stall door I!) upon closing abuts front channel door jamb 24X and rear channel door jamb 25 which jambs are preferably made of extruded corrosion-proof metal.

Grip bar hi (Figs. 2-8) is rigidly fixed to a lever bar 24 by an integral angle iron 252; as by welding or other conventional means. A pivot pin 26 is located in lever bar 24 close to grip bar I4 and is removably attached to front bracket I6 by a screw threaded nut or other conventional means.

Lever bar 24 is provided at its end furthest from the grip bar l4 with a two pronged claw having claw hooks 2'! and 28 between which is disposed one end of a swingable latch 29. Latch 29 is pivoted at substantially its center about a pivot pin 30 which is fixed to front hollow extruded metal member 3|. Lever bar 24 enters said hollow extruded member 3| at an opening provided therefor adjacent bracket l6.

Latch 29 is operated by lever bar 24 and is disposed at right angles to said bar. Located in the extruded front door jamb 24 opposite to latch 29 is a swingable catch 32 pivoted at one end by pivot pin 33. Latch 29 protrudes through extruded member 3I through an opening provided therefor so that it can swing to engage Catch 32 is provided with a grip pin 34 which extends from one-side of front jamb 24 to the other and which pin 34 can be moved through recess 35 to release the gripping engagement with latch 29 if the latter should fail to operate. Thus catch 32 can be operated from inside or outside the shower stall.

The operation of the safety door latch is as follows, a slight downward pressure on grip bar 24 (Fig. 6) rotates lever bar 24 causing the claw hook 28 to rotate latch 29 so that latch front end 29X is rotated downward from its open position shown in Fig. 3 to its closed position shown in Fig. 7. Release of pressure on the grip bar 24 causes the hooked claws to move downward because of their weight thereby lifting front latch 2 9X from engagement with catch 32.

Thus with no pressure on the grip bar, the front end 29X of latch 29 is in open position, that is, not in engagement with catch 32. should a bather fall against the door, latch 29 would immediately be actuatedto engage catch 32.

Fig. 8 shows the catch 32 in a raised position as when raised by pushing upward on grippin 34. However the operating or normal position of catch 32 is its lowered or horizontal position, since it is only when in its horizontal position that it is in co-operative' engagement with latch 29. I

The door [0 is hinged to rear door lamb 25 by a plurality of hinges 35X (Fig 4) removably secured by conventional means such as Screws, to hollow rear extruded member 36".

Having described the invention, what is claimed is:

A safetyshower -st'all doorcomprisinga pan- But eled door having an interior panel, a movable grip bar in spaced relation to said panel and pivoted to brackets at substantially a right angle thereto, said brackets being secured to said panel, a swingable catch, a moveable latch, and lever means for transferring the movement of said grip bar to said latch whereby engagement between said latch and catch is elfected, wherein said lever means is a projection from the grip bar engaging said latch, whereby downward movement of said grip bar effects an upward movement of said latch engaging projection and a corresponding downward movement of the front engaging end of said latch to a door locked position,

ADOLPH MARCI-IAND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 12,318,329 Eisele Oct. 7, 1919 1,543,078 Gloekler June 23, 1925 1,585,167 Palmer May 18, 1926 1,666,677 B01188 Apr. 17, 1928 1,708,545 Lehman Apr. 9, 1929 2,505,190 Kulbersh Apr. 25, 1950 

